Local Marketing: Building Relationships with Young Parents via E-Zine
From: www.wilsonweb.com

"A local church developed a local Parenting Tips e-zine designed to help younger parents and their families -- and build a relationship with the church as a provider of trusted and timely information. Subscriptions were obtained through sign-ups at a local family fair and articles in local periodicals. Date: Jul 7, 2004, 10:28 PST"

E-Commerce: Convincing Foreign Buyers to Purchase from Your Online Store
From: www.wilsonweb.com

"For a UK vendor, getting US shoppers to buy can be a challenge. Some things that will help include a .com domain, selling in US dollars, site translation into American spellings and idioms, a friend who can serve as your US agent, and free shipping. Date: Jun 30, 2004, 12:24 PST"

Site Design: Domain Name Terminology
From: www.wilsonweb.com

"Defines various common domain name terminology, such as parked or for sale page, domain locking, domain status alerts, forwarding and masking, e-mail forwards, and change of registration. Date: Jun 21, 2004, 20:31 PST"

E-Mail Marketing: "Deliver My Mail" Campaign Launches
From: www.wilsonweb.com

"Dr. Ken Evoy has launched the Deliver My Mail campaign to demand that ISPs do their job to deliver customer-requested, opt-in e-mail, rather than filtering it out without notice. He threatens ISPs with a class action lawsuit if they don't stop damaging small businesses ability to deliver e-mail to their customers. Date: Jun 20, 2004, 13:27 PST"

Site Design: Are Junk Mail Graphics Copyright Free?
From: www.wilsonweb.com

"Don't ever use graphics or photos on your website without permission. Rather, subscribe to a monthly service from which you can download royalty-free photos and graphics, such as from ClipArt.com, Photos.com, or AbleStock.com. Date: Jun 16, 2004, 08:55 PST"


Google Updates Gmail Policies
From: www.webpronews.com

"In what seems to be a response to Gmail invitation auctions, Google has updated their Gmail (http://gmail.google.com/gmail/help/program_policies.html)policy page to reflect these activities. The changes now make it a violation to "sell, trade, resell or otherwise exploit for any unauthorized commercial purpose or transfer any Gmail account.""

Google Sued Over Orkut Code
From: www.webpronews.com

"Affinity Engines, a social networking service provider, filed a lawsuit against Google on May 25. The suit claims that Google's social network, Orkut, is using a source code that was stolen by an engineer that was previously employed by Affinity."

Microsoft Gives Facelift To MSN Search
From: www.webpronews.com

"MSN has rolled out a new look for their search engine. MSN Search is now featuring a newly designed home page, as well as redesigned search results pages. Not only equipped with a new look, Microsoft has also altered the method in which they deliver information to the user."

Google Improves Ad Relevancy For AdWords Service
From: www.webpronews.com

"Search engine Google sent customers an email yesterday that outlined changes to their ad relevancy algorithms. These changes are being made in order to improve the targeting of ads and members' ROI."

Macintosh Prepared To Introduce Desktop Search
From: www.webpronews.com

"Steve Jobs, CEO of Macintosh, revealed a new file search technology for the upcoming update of Mac's operating system. The search feature, called Spotlight, will allow Mac users to search for files, words, concepts and documents they have stored on their hard drive. Spotlight is based on the search technology used by iTunes."


Movie Lobby Group in New Hands
From: www.wired.com

"Jack Valenti steps down as the head of Hollywood's most powerful lobbying group. His successor is a former congressman from Kansas. The industry wonders what it means for balance between copyright and technology. By Katie Dean."

Canada Nixes Internet Royalties
From: www.wired.com

"ISPs merely disseminate music and cannot be held responsible for paying royalties to the industry for pirated music, Canada's Supreme Court rules."

Sony's Riposte to Apple's iPod
From: www.wired.com

"The Walkman looms as a credible rival in the hard disk music player field. Also: Revamped MSN search challenges Google.... InterActiveCorp wins rights to about $600 million of tax distributions in dispute with Vivendi Universal.... and more."

To Be Cool, Tech Taps the Past
From: www.wired.com

"Facing a glut of competition on retailers' shelves, consumer electronics makers are wrapping their latest technology in the designs of the past. A digital camera that looks like a prop from a Fellini flick sells for $1,000, for example. By Rachel Metz."

Lawsuit: Google Stole Orkut Code
From: www.wired.com

"A small software company says Google got a big start in the social-networking business by stealing its source code for orkut.com. The company claims a former engineer took the code with him when he got a job at Google. By Daniel Terdiman."


Usability threads in 2003
From: webword.com

" Cre8asite -- "We've had a lot of interesting usability threads over the year 2003, and some excellent ones already in 2004. We thought it would be fun to take a look back at some of the posts from last year. It was difficult to choose for this retrospective, because there were so many good ones."

I missed this earlier in the year. Very useful!

Take a look..."

P2P Judo
From: webword.com

" If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Give stuff away for free and watch sales quadruple. It is good to see someone get it. Read the article and think deeply about it. There is more here than meets the eye.

"The sales increase is solely attributable to [the p-to-p promotion], since it's the only way [the album] is being promoted now," Reichgut said. "This is proof that the file sharing community is a very affluent, desirable market, and that [p-to-p networks] can be used to increase record sales."

Like I said above, read this article. Sit in your favorite chair, gaze at your navel, and think about this. This is evidence of deep, long-term, tectonic shifts in how markets work.

(Sorry, but I am going to emphasize this again: Sales quadrupled. This is an iceberg event. We see the tip; more is below the surface that we don't know about. Depending on your situation, this is a calling, a siren, a scream. You've been given fair warning.)"

"There's Nothing We Can Do"
From: webword.com

" I like cell phones but I can't stand cell phone companies.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of dealing with both Verizon and AT&T. In my Verizon encounter, I heard the sales clerk say to a customer the following:

"Yes, we said come back in July, but we meant come back July 8th. You can't use that $100 voucher today [1-July] because your service doesn't renew until July 8th. I know that we said come back, and I'm sorry you're angry, but there's nothing we can do."

Read more...
"

MPX200 Virgin
From: webword.com

" I'm getting a new phone today, the MPX200. I posted some questions on Mobile Gadget News about it. We'll see how much these folks can help me get and running with my new SmartPhone. I'm excited about it!

On a related topic, I'll try talking a lot about my phone over the next few weeks. Right now I am spending a lot of time working with small interfaces and mobile devices. My MPX200 will be a good "lightning rod" for discussions around small interfaces, smart devices, and mobile technology. If you are interested in these topics, or you have something good to share, let me know! john AT webword DOT com "

APCHI 2004
From: webword.com

" "The Asia Pacific Computer-Human Interaction (APCHI) 2004 conference is the sixth biennial gathering of computer-human interaction experts and the first time the event has come to New Zealand."

Read the article...

Visit the APCHI 2004 web site...

(Thanks for the submission Daniel Szuc!)



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